Miscellmieous. 521 



are bones, he observes, in limestone caves of Wellington valley, which 

 prove to be those of gigantic marsupials, now extinct; but with the 

 exception of these, few fossils have been found in New South Wales. 

 The impressions of a fern and of a fish, some corallines, molluscous 

 shells, and a few radiata, are all that he has yet seen or heard of. 

 No Crustacea or annulosa or cirripedous shells have yet been found, 

 nor reptiles or birds. Indeed, he observes, this new country is in 

 reality a very old one, if we may judge from the low organization of 

 its fossil remains. 



•' Mr. MacLeay asks many questions regarding India, which per- 

 haps we shall do better by publishing than by attempting to answer 

 ourselves. He is particularly interested in those fossil remains which, 

 as he himself expresses it, ' fill up gaps in the chain of living nature,' 

 and asks if we have any Trilobites. They occur, he says, at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and might be expected in Silurian rocks. He 

 is desirous of being informed if leeches abound in the dark damp 

 forests of India, and also if there be any insects parasitical in ants' 

 nests, and whether bees and wasps are infested with parasites in 

 India. He is desirous of having some of the Hymenopterous and 

 Dipterous insects of India, with all the parasitical kinds, and the 

 names of the animals they infest. We had sent a small collection 

 of the commoner insects collected in the cold season, but Mr. Mac- 

 Leay is now desirous of having some of those which are found on 

 plants of various kinds during the rains ; and in making collections 

 during winter, he recommends stones to be turned, and the bark of 

 trees to be removed in search of the rarer sorts. Calcutta is not the 

 most favourable place for making collections of any kind, but we 

 shall procure what we can ; we shall also be very happy to forward 

 to Mr. MacLeay any collections that may be entrusted to us for the 

 purpose by friends in the Mofussil." — Calcutta Journal of Natural 

 History, No. 2. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



A new Genus of Mexican Glirine Mammalia. — Mr. John Phillips, 

 who has lately returned from Real del Monte, Mexico, has, at the re- 

 commendation of Mr. John Taylor, sent to the British Museum the 

 skins of some very rare and interesting birds, of a Bassaris, and of the 

 new animal which I shall now proceed to describe. This animal is very 

 interesting, as having all the external form and colouring of a Ger- 

 boa ; and it is doubtless the American representative of that African 

 genus, though differing from it very essentially, in being provided, like 

 some other American genera, as Saccophorus, Saccomys, and Hete- 

 romys, with large cheek-pouches, which open externally on the side 

 of the cheeks. I propose to call it 



DiPODOMYS. 



Body covered with soft hair. Head moderate, with large cheek- 

 pouches opening externally on the side of the cheeks. Ears and 

 eyes rather large ; the fore-legs short ; the hind tarsus long and 



